Friday, September 30, 2011

Not So Green After All

You hear the term "going green" everywhere these days. The new company to "go green" is the Green Mountain Power company... Or are they? The Green Mountain Power company plans to put 21 wind turbines in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. Vermont's Northeast Kingdom is one of the largest tracts of private wild land in the state of Vermont. This wind power threatens to ruin the landscape. Putting up these wind turbines will require roads to be built, and to change the whole profile of the ridgeline. The same ridgeline that raised the state 1.4 million dollars in tourism spending. A total of 134 acres of forest will need to be cleared in order for the turbines to be created. These acres of healthy forests will be cleared with 700,000 pounds of explosives that will turn the mountain side into rubble. So, is the company really "going green" after all?

The author of this editorial, Steve E. Wright, is very persuasive with his language. His language and diction prove that he definitely does not believe the Green Mountain Power company is making the right decision. Wright uses words like "destroy," "ripping-apart," and "terrible" when talking about the destruction of the forest. Wright also uses evidence to back up his argument. He states that "The electricity generated by this project will not appreciably reduce Vermont’s greenhouse gas emissions. Only 4 percent of those emissions now result from electricity generation." He also points out that, "The mountains are integral to our identity as the Green Mountain State, and provide us with clean air and water and healthy wildlife populations." Wright has completely convinced me that the Green Mountain Power company is destroying the forest, even if it is for so called, green reasons.

Its a contradiction, renewable energy at the cost of destruction of our environment. I think that these turbines are necessary for future sustainability but we can't eliminate natural resources in doing so.